


Can't Hide

by teakturn



Series: The Devil's Keeper [3]
Category: John Wick (Comics), John Wick (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Assassins & Hitmen, Continental Hotel (John Wick), Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, F/M, Mentor/Protégé, Older Man/Younger Woman, Pining, Possessive Behavior, Possible Character Death, Protective John, Sexual Tension, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-28 12:27:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21136694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teakturn/pseuds/teakturn
Summary: "Fuck I'm going to have to cut my hair," Olympia glances at John from her spot on the bed for a reaction. He doesn't look at her."Ultimately I have to because, aside from my skin, it's my most defining feature." Olympia comes to this conclusion the morning after their dash from her apartment. John has been brooding in an armchair for hours. It was hard to tell, John wasn't exactly chatty, to begin with. But he was giving Olympia the silent treatment for suggesting he kill her.And she'd only been kind of joking but it really was the perfect plan.





	Can't Hide

**Author's Note:**

> *Do not steal or repost my work*

"Fuck I'm going to have to cut my hair," Olympia glances at John from her spot on the bed for a reaction. He doesn't look at her.

"Ultimately I have to because, aside from my skin, it's my most defining feature." Olympia comes to this conclusion the morning after their dash from her apartment. John has been brooding in an armchair for hours. It was hard to tell, John wasn't exactly chatty, to begin with, but he was giving Olympia the silent treatment for suggesting he kill her.

And she'd only been kind of joking but it really was the perfect plan.

Olympia was young and while she had a pretty good reputation for contracts it was nothing compared to John's. The idiot who'd sent their goons after her the night before obviously wasn't aware of her skill set. There were still those out there who did know and John Wick would do more than enough to convince them she was dead.

John was thinking of the consequences, no doubt. If they succeeded in faking her death but she was found out who knows what could happen. To either of them. So they had to come up with something foolproof and flashy enough to stir gossip. 

Of course, Olympia had the perfect solution to this, though John didn't care for it.

"You don't actually have to shoot me in the eye you know. There are other ways to cause damage without risking killing me,"

"No, Olympia." John stopped brooding and sent her a wounded look. And that was that.

  


They stayed with Gunnie for three days. Then John, tired of living in a sex dungeon, announced that they were checking in to the Continental Hong Kong. They had a "no business on-premises" rule that everyone followed. Olympia would be safe if out in the open. At least, that's what John believed.

Olympia had never been to any of the Continental locations during her travels. She could tell John trusted them with her safety but it was only delaying the inevitable. Olympia had to die. How she had accepted the inevitability of her mortality and John hadn't eluded Olympia. Growing up, She hadn't believed him to be that sentimental. Then again, she was a free agent, he was soon to be a free agent; maybe this was John's idea of righting a few wrongs by protecting her.

Still, Olympia agreed without argument which made John stare at her. She'd always fought him on his ideas, not out of any real disagreement but to get John talking. She loved the sound of his voice. Olympia smiled at John innocently and pretended not to notice his stare while she packed. John narrowed his eyes, studying her form as she moved about the room.

"You call the car service," Olympia said, once it looked like John would do nothing more than stare at her. "I'll go say goodbye to Gunnie."

Li Gun did not like the idea of them going to a hotel, that he didn't own, together.

"Tell me what's going on," he demanded. "Do you really think you're safer with him*, outside of my territory?"

Olympia valiantly fought the urge to roll her eyes. Men, they really had a way of making her doubt their usefulness. "Gunnie," she sweetly scolded, "I'm caught up in something real bad. There are people coming after me."

"So what's his plan," Li Gun half-turned, as if he planned on storming up to John and demanding answers himself. Olympia caught him by the collar of his dress shirt and pulled him into a searing kiss. She kissed him deeply and counted to three in her head. Right on cue, Li Gun relaxed.

When she pulled away, Olympia pretended to lean back in for another kiss and whispered, "I trust John with my life. He'll take care of me, he promised."

"And what about me?" Li Gun's chest puffed up.

Olympia turned the amused smirk fighting its way on her lips to a sweeter, sadder smile, "This goes beyond your control, Gunnie. John is taking me somewhere safe. If something were to happen to me on your property it wouldn't just be hell for the ones trying to kill me..."

Olympia let her eyes flick over to John as if she were afraid he might be listening in on their conversation. She found him already staring in their direction. His eyes weren't on their faces, where one might stare to read lips, but on Li Gun's hand curled possessively around her waist.

Li Gun blanched at Olympia's words, realization dawning in his eyes. It wasn't too difficult, after that, to get Li Gun to accept that they were leaving. Olympia even asked Li Gun to hold on to a necklace she'd lifted while killing a wealthy businessman in Taiwan. His wife had a small collection of precious gems and diamonds and Olympia had enjoyed wearing them around her apartment after the kill.

  


Olympia made them leave quickly after that. She refused to load her luggage into the car when it arrived, and Li Gun & John seemed unable to stop making menacing eye contact. So Olympia made puppy dog eyes at John until he eventually (with a glare for good measure) stepped forward to do it for her. Olympia didn't care what happened to her belongings, she just wanted to make sure John and Li Gun were never alone together long enough to exchange words.

Once John and Olympia found themselves safely ensconced in the backseat of the hired car, Olympia turned to John with a smile.

"I'll miss him, after. He really came in handy." 

John was still looking at her with this assessing look. Olympia's eyes dared him to call her out, to speak up if he suspected something. Turning back in his seat John focused his eyes forward.

"We'll be there in thirty minutes. Buckle up."

Olympia didn't let his bland tone fool her. She could feel his eyes still studying her in the rearview mirror. Obediently she buckled her seat belt and turned her face to stare out the window. While John watched her she'd be watching him.  
The Continental looked like any old hotel at first glance. Once you walked through the doors however, the level of subtle but grand opulence was enough to take your breath away. If Olympia hadn't been trained better her mouth would have dropped open in shock, and maybe a little excitement. She'd always heard of the Continental after all, but hearing about a place was a lot different than walking through it yourself.

The lobby was sparsely filled at this early hour but Olympia recognized assassins and gang leaders alike. There was a restaurant to one side of the lobby, closed for the early morning. As they approached the front desk, a serenely smiling man greeted them as if it weren't 5 am and he wasn't working in a hotel catered to the most deadly people in the world.

"Hello Mr. Wick we received your call about to impending stay," brown eyes strayed to Olympia who stood at John's shoulder studying their exchange.

"Will you require one room or two?"

"Two"

"One"

Olympia and John glared at one another. He glanced briefly at the concierge before turning back to Olympia. With a low voice, he said, "One?"

"Think of it as a present," she touched his arm and let her lips smile softly. Olympia's eyes, though on John, picked the blatant and curious looks shot their way by the lobby's other inhabitants. John noticed too.

Without taking his eyes off her John signaled the concierge, "One then."

A bellboy gathered their bags, the concierge slipped them both a key and finally, they were off. Olympia could feel John staring at her, studying her. His instincts were no doubt warning him of something, Olympia knew the feeling well. You just couldn't not be alert, aware. One of the hazards of their line of work, besides death, was the constant fear that there was always something one step behind you. 

Olympia hardly paid any attention to the room she didn't plan on being here long and besides, she had seeds that needed watering.

"I have some business I need to wrap up so I'm gonna be on my phone for the rest of the morning." Olympia watched John digest this, then he nodded.

"I'm going to go talk to some old contacts. If we can get to the bottom of who's trying to kill you-"

"And if it turns out to be everyone?" Olympia interrupted, "If you go down there and ask who wants my blood, and everyone raises their hand," she paused to let her words sink in, "What would you do?"

"Protect you," John answered simply.

Olympia shook her head, "Why? You're basically out. Your freedom is all but guaranteed," bitterly she added, "You'll have more time to play house and live out your days with your new family."

John's brow furrowed, "O, you are my family."

Olympia looked away and swallowed thickly. She knew that. She was family for him in much the same way he was family to her. When it had just been the two of them Olympia never doubted this. Until she realized that while she may be family to a man like John Wick, her association with the Life would forever keep them apart. He wanted out and Olympia, well, she'd just gotten in.

"I'm your family until _She_ is."

"What is your problem with her?" John finally asked.

Olympia knew he'd cottoned on to her dislike of his lady love. Who hadn't? For the past five years, Olympia had lived and breathed because of John Wick. His visits were all that sustained her at one point in time. The memory of his voice guided her through the torturous pain she went through to be worthy of killing him.

How could a girl not get foolish ideas of love in her head?

"Because she's what you want! She's pure and kind and she's giving you exactly what you wanted; an Out." Olympia felt traitorous tears fall from her eyes to her cheeks. Laughing she turned away.

"Anyway doesn't matter now. You won't kill me so I have until someone sends a killer worth his salt after me." Olympia turned to the window to avoid John's gaze.

"O," John faltered. He actually faltered. It confirmed everything Olympia said and more. Without her permission, her shoulders dropped.

"Olympia," John said not ungently. When she turned to meet his gaze she found a familiar intensity in the shadowy brown orbs, "I won't let anything happen to you."

"I've never known you to lie to me John," Olympia answered.

  


John leaves, probably to brood, and Olympia starts working on her exit strategy. She sends emails and texts to the civilians in her life about a rehab visit to help her with her grief. They more or less buy it not that Olympia really cares. She just doesn't like loose ends.

That wrapped up, Olympia began dismantling her criminal life piece by piece. Aliases she's known to use, her apartment in New York from the Director, the apartment she had here, in China. The jobs she'd had lined up before her breakdown were sent to trusted colleagues. They weren't as good as Olympia and to be honest she doesn't really trust them, but they would do.

Her storage lockers back home were a little trickier to deal with. Olympia had a lot of priceless art and jewelry that she was loathe to part from. But everyone knew about her sticky fingers and more than one had been taken from a kill Olympia had orchestrated. She decided to send those to John, he'd protect them.

Not entirely done, but satisfied with her work so far, Olympia relaxed into the bed. She had more or less wrapped up her soon to be old life. Certain things were left untouched so her absence would be noticed, no point in dying if people wouldn't mourn you. But for intents and purposes, Olympia Johnson's life was nearing its end.

John returned looking grim, but he had breakfast. Olympia didn't ask about his findings. She made gimme hands at John until he placed a covered tray on her lap. He pulled the cover off, revealing a decadent meal of pancakes, sausage, eggs that looked like yellow clouds, and a fresh bowl of fruit. Olympia smiled at him while stuffing her face full of sausage and reaching for what she hoped was a mimosa.

His own meal was much simpler. Black coffee, a toasted bagel, and the latest paper. They ate in silence, enjoying one another's company and sneaking looks. When Olympia finished her meal she reached for the menu on the bedside table. Her phone lit up with notifications yet Olympia ignored them in favor of perusing the menu.

"I'm thinking of checking out the spa," Olympia broke the silence. John paused from his reading to glance at her.

"What are your plans for the day?" John didn't look relaxed though he'd taken off his suit jacket and loosened his tie. And Olympia quickly noticed the tense way he sat in the armchair. As if ready to launch himself to his feet and fight right in the middle of breakfast.

"I've tied up all my loose ends, well the ones that matter anyway," she pretended to think, "I think I want my last day alive to be filled with pampering."

John put his paper down, "Pampering?" He looked amused. It was the warmest he'd been to her since she'd suggested he kill her.

Olympia all but bloomed under his muted look of affection, "It is my last hurrah-"

"Don't," John's face was serious, he looked pained. 

"Stop avoiding it. They want me dead. So dead I shall be. You're the only one who's in denial,"

John slammed the paper down and rose to his feet, "Don't you want to know who 'they' are? Don't you want to fight?"

John prowled closer and Olympia was reminded of his leashed beast. Unwilling to let him intimidate her Olympia stared him down as he approached.

"It doesn't matter John. They made me and they can unmake me, as simple as that."

John shook his head and abruptly changed course, away from Olympia and the bed. He stalked to the window, tension in every line of his fine frame. Olympia wanted to go to him, comfort him. He wasn't as trapped as she was but John seemed to feel her end much more keenly than she did.

"What did you discover," Olympia she'd softly. He'd been agitated all morning, yes, but this new tension must have come from whatever information he'd gone looking for.

John took a long moment to speak. So long Olympia almost lost her patience, but when he spoke his tone had that finality she'd been waiting for. A loss of hope that Olympia had known was coming. Eventually, John had to realize there was no running from this, no last-minute McGuffin riding in to save her ass. And obviously it broke him that he couldn't protect her.

"No one knows who gave the order. The price on your head is high and no one's eager to ask questions." John clenched his fist, "As soon as you step off hotel grounds you're done for."

The silence between them should be heavy, but Olympia only felt relief. Soon, she would no longer be hunted by the shadow of John Wick. Olympia would be dead. And yes, there's nothing stopping whoever ordered her creation from creating another weapon, but there was freedom in death. Olympia had always believed so.

"So that's that then. Either you kill me, or we wait for someone else to try." Olympia let out a breath.

"Would you not fight? You've accepted death so easily," John turned and fixed Olympia with a curious look. 

"Oh, I'd fight if it wasn't you. Can't let them take the champ out while she's still on top. " Olympia shot him a cheeky grin he didn't return. Then she shrugged, "I'm the Weapon forged to kill John Wick, anything less would bring shame to my name."

John looked wrecked when she said that and Olympia quickly realized her mistake.

"John this isn't your fault. I don't have some death wish or a kink where I want my crush to literally murder me. I didn't know what I was agreeing to when I took your money and that coin. But I've never regretted it."

John sat heavily on the bed, scrubbed his face, and fixed Olympia with an intense look, "You're going to die because of me. You spent your adolescence being trained mercilessly to kill me. And now that I'm not in the Life, you're being hunted." John's voice turned sharp, And his eyes went mean, "How is this not my fault?"

Olympia moved across the bed gracefully, placed herself in John's lap so that she straddled him, and wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders. With one hand she turned his head so that his cheek rested against her sternum. Using her free hand, Olympia rubbed soothing circles on John's upper back. 

John didn't surrender to Olympia's embrace all at once, he was too much of a martyr for that. But there was a moment between him enduring her embrace and reciprocating it. A moment that sent Olympia's heart into her throat.

She worried, for what couldn't be longer than thirty seconds, if John would reject her again. Then his arms, strong and corded in muscle that Olympia could feel the evidence of despite how gently he handled her, wrapped around her. John's long fingers dove into her mane, connecting with her scalp and sending waves of electricity through her body and to her core.

"I never said it wasn't your fault. I just don't blame you for it." John pulled back so he could stare into her eyes. Olympia cupped his cheek and rested her forehead against his.

"I would be nothing, if not for your interference. There was no happy ending for me so don't think for one second that you've somehow doomed me." Olympia stroked John's hair and pulled him close again.

They sat in that embrace for several long moments until John, finally sighed.

"Alright, I'll do it." 

Olympia hid her smile by kissing the top of his head, "Thank you, John, it means a lot to me."

  


With John on board, Olympia's plans became a little easier to execute. But John wouldn't let her out of his sight for a minute. The only privacy she was allowed was in the restroom, other than that John hovered near. She didn’t leave the hotel grounds, and luckily the Continental was filled with several amenities’ to keep a woman like her pampered and entertained. But John was like Olympia’s ever-faithful shadow. Playing the role of vigilant bodyguard while everyone politely didn’t ask what he was still doing wrapped up in the Life.

Olympia flattered herself by breezily asking, "Have you finally realized your belated attraction to you?"

It was officially a week since a contract on Olympia’s life forced her into hiding and she was lounging by an indoor pool. John was nearby, looking like lethal banality in his pool chair and shades. He had another book with him, Olympia hadn’t cared to read the title because he hadn’t seemed to actually be reading it. As he had since she’d easily agreed to hide away in the Continental, John was watching her. _Studying_ her. Olympia thought she was doing a pretty good job at pretending not to notice his eyes on her but her vanity wouldn’t let her get away without some preening. All Olympia had wanted since that first birthday was John’s eyes on her.

And yes, he may be looking at her with eyes filled suspicion and worry rather than the lust and passion she’d always fantasized about, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

John half laughed half huffed in disbelief, "I've always been attracted to you." 

This was news to Olympia. Turning to him abruptly, she yanked off her sunglasses, “Since when!”

John cast a glance at her from his book, then he shrugged, “You remember that competition you did, back when…” He coughed and looked away. Olympia thought she caught the faintest bit of red on his grizzly cheeks. He hadn’t shaved since they’d left his apartment and his beard was a wild, sexy thing Olympia enjoyed adding to her usual lineup of John Wick fantasies.

“Anyway,” John continued, “You were trying to win a spot at that ballet company in New York and you’d been practicing your routine for...fuck, ages, I think. I’d been away when you’d first begun choreography and once I came back it was the night of the competition.”

Olympia remembered. She hadn’t had a chance to tell him about the competition because, by that point, he’d been in deep with the Tarasov Mob. Mama, well...Olympia might as well call her the Director now. The Director called Olympia from her little broom closet room and told her to bathe and dress in her best costume. That night, Olympia danced for the men who would train her to be the ultimate weapon against John Wick.

After dancing, Olympia was then prompted to fight, in her ballet shoes and tutu, a dozen or more masked fighters. When she’d held back, Olympia had seen disapproval in the shadowy faces of those men. So her kicks became brutal, she snapped bones and more than likely caused a few concussions. She stopped just short of killing them until finally, they were defeated. There was no one else coming at her with fists or a knife or whatever weapon the Director had no doubt outfitted them with from the family armory.

_“Not bad,” said the shadow._

_“She’ll do,” said another._

  


“I don’t know if you saw me but I’d found a seat in as close as I could on such short notice. At first, I thought I’d missed you. I hadn’t seen you in about -”

“Eighteen months,” Olympia interrupted, “I went from seeing you every week to every month to once every six months. Maybe. Then nothing.” Olympia had to look away from John then. She focused her eyes on the pool. “I thought you’d finally grown sick of me.”

“I thought,” John sighed. Olympia heard him get up and then he was crouching beside her chair looking up at her. “I thought I was doing you a favor. You kept telling me people treated you differently because of your connection to me.” 

“And you knew you couldn’t protect me,” Olympia smiled but there was no humor or joy in it. Her eyes were still lost in the clear blue ripples in the pool. Looking at John felt likely to make her seasick, the water was a much more stable point.

“I knew that I would _want_ to protect you.” John insisted. “Why do you keep assuming I never wanted to be around you. Why did you assume that I would jump to kill you once I found out you were trained to kill me.”

“So many questions,” Olympia closed her eyes, suddenly exhausted, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk this much.”

John was silent for a few heartbeats. When he spoke the urgency was gone from his voice. He sounded as tired as she felt, “I think you’re rubbing off on me.”

Olympia smirked, “You know you set yourself up for the joke of the century right?” 

John huffed a laugh and stood. He extended one hand down to where Olympia lay on the pool chair, “Let’s head inside.”

Without argument, Olympia took John’s hand and allowed him to lead her out of the indoor pool.

“So you know I’m never going to forget for as long as I live that you were attracted to me this whole time.”

John sighed, but Olympia could tell he was amused, “I know Olympia.”

“You know before my big death I can still accept a couple of little ones,” They reached the elevator and John pressed the call button.

“I know Olympia.”


End file.
